Some college, no degree update: an enormous swath of higher education

What do we know about people who take some college classes, then leave the institution without any kind of degree?

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center just published new data on people who have some college, no credential (SCNC). It’s vital information for American higher ed. Here I’ll follow my usual practice of identifying what I see as key findings, then will add some reflections.

To start with, the number of people who once enrolled but never got a degree is immense: “today’s SCNC population is 41.9 million students, 36.8 million of whom are between the ages of 18 and 64.” That’s a nearly 3% increase since last year. For broader context, “[t]his represents 18.1 percent of the total United States population between 18 and 64 years old” or about 13% of everyone who lives in America.

In demographic terms, SCNC people are spread across all ages:

There is a skew older in terms of increase: “the rate of growth was considerably smaller for students currently aged 25–34 (+15,100, +0.1%) compared to the rest of the population, which saw increases ranging from 2.9 percent…